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12.30.2011

I thought I'd take a hot minute to update y'all on my Christmas, which just so happened to be the best ever!

On Christmas Eve Eve Bryce and I gave his black lab Honcho his Christmas present: a new Orvis dog bed!

doesn't he look happy?

Christmas Eve morning I made my annual hashbrown quiche (recipe here) and that afternoon my grandmothers came over dinner and presents. Our tradition has always been to open one gift on Christmas Eve and save the rest for Christmas morning. I love this tradition and will most definitely continue it down the road with my future kiddies, but for this year, we shook it up a bit. We're all getting older now so the allure of Santa is long gone, and we decided to open all our presents Christmas Eve night and just save stockings for the next morning so we had plenty of time to sleep and get ready for breakfast at my aunt's Christmas morning.

Hashbrown Quiches: Paula Deen is a GENIUS!

We snapped a few pictures before heading to my Aunt's house for brunch.

Santa brought both my mom and me faux fur vests for Christmas--who knew he had such great fashion sense!

Cousins: CAE, CME, CJE (the Three C's), and ABE (me)

I am the OLDEST and the SHORTEST!

I love this picture of my Grandma and me!

THE, ABE, MWE

I had so much fun putting this festive Christmassy outfit together!

At my Aunt's came more pictures and lots of good food (cheesy potato casserole, sausage and egg casserole, butternut squash casserole, quiches, and lots of sweets and treats)...

Aunt M, me, Godmother, Mommy

My Godparents

With Grandma Jac Jac!

Grandma Jac Jac with her two grand-daughters

My other cousin in this picture I refer to as my "sister-cousin"--growing up we were both only children and did lots together and I thus named us sister-cousins at a young age and it stuck. She's an incredible artist...I'll have to post about her sometime!

After brunch we spent the afternoon relaxing and letting our full bellies digest and then headed over to my mom's best friend's (who is a second mother to me) for her annual open house. It's always a casual celebration with lots of good food and people I love. We always change into comfier clothes, but I had to include the faux fur vest into my night outfit!

What do ya think? I love the fur paired with the stripes!

In addition to my vest, I got some other very special presents--I'll highlight a few!

Another particularly sentimental present was from my grandmother. She makes us handmade Christmas ornaments this year and has tons that she and her mother made together. Yesterday, my cousins and I spent the morning choosing ornaments from her own collection--I will have to post about these sometime, because they are so gorgeous!

The last few days since Christmas I've just been taking it easy. I treated myself to a pedicure yesterday and have been doing a lot of reading. Bryce has been hunting in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore and will be home today! Tomorrow we will head to the country for New Year's Eve celebrations!

I got this letter in the mail from Bryce on Wednesday that he sent from Accomack--I just love the dogwood flower he drew on the seal!

12.29.2011

If you haven't noticed, it's very rare for me to post about something make-up or beauty related. I've just never been someone that gets excited by a walk through Sephora. I find what I like and I stick to it. Recently, however, I've found a new love for perfume...

We'll start at the beginning. Way back in 10th grade (so 7 years ago), my high school sweetheart gave me perfume as a gift for some now forgotten occasion. That boyfriend turned out to be a big stinker, BUT, the perfume he gave me was not. It was FABULOUS. So fabulous that way back in my very FIRST blog post (see here) I answered that it was my favorite smell. The perfume was Hanae Mori "Butterfly". It's a very sweet smell with hints of vanilla and it has become my signature scent. That being said, when other perfume's have come along that I liked, I have remained loyal to "Butterfly", until recently...

Now fast forward 6 years, it's Christmas 2010 and I have no clue what to get my mother. I decide that a new perfume would be a great gift. I search high and low for a perfume that would fit my mother's taste and eventually discover Philosophy's "Eternal Grace". It had a very clean, fresh smell which suited my mom perfectly and something about it was also just a bit sensual. I bought her a gift set and thought nothing more of it, until about a month ago, when I spritzed some on myself. I liked the smell, but Bryce LOVED it! He noticed right away and was so smitten with it, that I used a little of my birthday money to get myself a bottle. I was now a two perfume girl that liked variety...

It is often said, that the third time's the charm and I guess you could say that about my new perfume love. For Christmas THIS YEAR, Bryce's dad and stepmom gave me (you guessed it): PERFUME! They gave me the Brooks Brothers "Madison" Gift Set. I tried it out and yet again am in love. It smells DIVINE! It's sweet and sexy at the same time and I just love wearing it. So now, I'm one of those girls, that alternates her perfume according to her mood and I am loving it.

The gift set included a cosmetic bag, mini bottle of the perfume, and a PERFUME RING! Have y'all ever heard of a perfume ring? If you haven't, it's a ring that you can open and get perfume out of! Bryce's dad and stepmom joked that if anyone could pull off the ring it was me and I have a feeling it will be the perfect New Year's Eve accessory...

I think it will be fabulous with my sequined dress!

What are your favorite perfumes?

Are you a signature scent kind of gal or do you like to mix it up with different perfumes?

Saturday, AMF and I baked the day away and prepared for the party. Sadly I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked at the party--I discovered that being a good hostess is a lot of work! The party was a huge success though, we had about 20 people come by, and I definitely think it will become a Christmas tradition for Bryce and me!

The house decorated and ready!

Bryce's mom made us this wreath from greenery around her yard and I picked out the bow!

The attire for the party was "Tacky Attire Optional" and Bryce's friend went all out with his HOMEMADE LIGHT-UP Christmas sweater!

Wow!!

CEG, ABE, ALG

Sadly, this is the best picture of Bryce and me from the night!

I love this candid I snagged of SEG and her man!

Finally, Sunday, Bryce and I cleaned up from the party and relaxed. That night, we went to a Christmas Carol service with Bryce's family at his church downtown and then stopped by the historic Jefferson Hotel to check out its Christmas decorations.

I LOVE the Jefferson at Christmastime!

They always have the most gorgeous two story high tree!

One of my favorite things is the annual Jefferson gingerbread house--this one had more than 500 pounds of gingerbread!!

In case you're curious about the other ingredients...

Bryce loves the dome in the Jefferson and snapped this pic!

I love this picture!

Alligator statues are all around the hotel to represent the live alligators that used to live in the hotel!

Love this guy!

Finally, Sunday night Bryce and I had our Christmas celebration together--we were going to do it this Friday night, but both were too excited to wait any longer. After dinner, we got into our pajamas and opened presents by the tree.